Nachura Law on Public Officers Notes: TERMINATION OF OFFICIAL RELATIONSHIP Part 2

Nachura Law on Public Officers Notes: TERMINATION OF OFFICIAL RELATIONSHIP Part 2

Resignation

• Act of giving up or the act of a public officer by which he declines his office and renounces the further right to use it.
• Intention to surrender, renounce, and relinquish the office and the acceptance by competent and lawful authority
• Voluntariness – when procured by fraud, may be invalidated
• Courtesy resignation lacks the element of voluntariness and therefore is not a valid resignation.
• Need for Acceptance – not complete until accepted by competent authority
• Article 238, RPC penalizes any public officer who, before the acceptance of his resignation, abandons his office to the detriment of the public service.
• If the public officer is mandated by law to hold-over, the resignation, even if accepted, will not be effective until after appointment/election of his successor.
• Accepting Authority – RA 7160, officers authorized to accept resignation:

1. President – governor, vice-governor, mayor and vice-mayor f highly urbanized cities and independent component cities

2. Governor – municipal mayors and vice-mayors, city mayors and vice-mayors of component cities

3. Sanggunian – sanggunian members

4. City or municipal mayor – barangay officials

• Resignation deemed accepted if not acted upon w/in 15 days from receipt

• Resignation by Sanggunian members shall be deemed accepted upon:

1. presentation before an open session of the sanggunian concerned
2. duly entered in its record
3. EXCEPT where sanggunian members are subject to recall elections or to cases where existing laws prescribe the manner of acting upon such resignation

• If the law is silent on who shall accept:

1. appointive officer resigns – appointing authority
2. elective officer resigns – officer authorized by law to call an election in order to fill the vacancy

• President and VP – Congress
• Members of Congress – respective Houses

Effective Date of Resignation

• Date specified in the tender
• No date specified public officer receives notice of the acceptance NOT the date of the letter or notice of acceptance

Recall

• Termination of official relationship of an elective official for loss of confidence prior to the expiration of his term through the will of the electorate.
• By Whom: registered voters of a LGU to which such local government official belongs
• Initiation of the Recall Process: registered voters of the LGU
• Procedure for Initiating Recall

1. initiated upon petition by at least 25% of the total number of registered voters in the LGU

2. written petition

• duly signed before the election registrar/representative
• in the presence of a representative of the petitioner
• representative of the official
• in a public place, in the province, city, municipality or barangay
• filed with the COMELEC through its office in the LGU concerned

3. COMELEC shall cause the publication of the petition

• In a public and conspicuous place
• Period not less than 10 days nor more than 20 days
• Purpose of verifying the authenticity and genuineness of the petition and required percentage of voters

4. Lapse of the period, COMELEC or its duly authorized representative, shall announce the acceptance of candidates to the position and prepare list of candidates, including the name of the official sought to be recalled.

• Election on Recall

1. Upon filing of a valid petition, COMELEC shall set date for the election on recall
2. Not later than 30 days after the filing of the resolution/petition in the case of barangay/city/municipal officials
3. Not later than 45 days in the case of provincial officials
4. Officials sought to be recalled, automatically considered as registered candidate.

• Effectivity of Recall

1. Recall of an elective official shall be effective upon the election an proclamation of a successor.
2. If the official sought to be recalled receives the highest number of votes – confidence in him is affirmed and he shall continue in office

• Prohibition from Resignation
• Limitation on Recall

1. any elective official may be subject of a recall election once during his term of office for lack of confidence

2. no recall shall take place within one year from the date of the official’s assumption to office or one year immediately preceding a regular local election

• Sangguiniang Kabataan election is not a regular election;
• Not barred by barangay election
• Approaching local election must be one where the position of the official to be recalled is actually contested and to be filled by the electorate